Mosh Pits, Heatstroke & a Gorillaz Mic: Our Fest Tales

Last Updated on 2026-09-22 by a-indie

Hello! This is the BELONG Media editorial team.

To everyone who always reads our articles — have you ever wondered, “Who actually writes for BELONG Media, anyway?”

You read the interviews and music columns, but you rarely get the chance to know who’s behind them.

So this time, three BELONG Media staff members — yabori, Takita, and Wakiki — sit down to talk about their memories of summer festivals.

Summer Sonic, the Time I Almost Died

The Kooks and the Mysterious “Crouch Down” MC

This is our summer festival memories edition.

Wakiki

yabori

I’ve got a bunch of summer festival memories, but Summer Sonic is the only one I’ve ever been to. If I had to pick a story to tell, there’s the time I nearly died at Summer Sonic. Do you two know The Kooks?

I know them.

Takita

I don’t.

Wakiki

yabori

The Kooks are a British band from the same generation as Arctic Monkeys. They released their second album, “Konk,” in 2008 — this story is from Summer Sonic that same year. Back then, seeing overseas artists live was always a bit of a mystery; every time felt like going in blind. It wasn’t like now where you can prep on YouTube beforehand.

These days you could just prep on YouTube.

Takita

yabori

Exactly. But back then there was no way to prep — you just kind of imagined what it’d be like from the genre. I’m not really into getting pushed around in a mosh pit, so whenever I watch a live show, I usually plant myself somewhere a bit calmer, past the halfway point of the crowd.

So you watch from past the middle of the crowd.

Takita

yabori

Right, The Kooks aren’t that intense musically, so I figured I could relax and watch from around the middle. Then they launched into “Do You Wanna,” which was a new song at the time. Right before the chorus, they kept playing the same phrase over and over. It sounded a bit different from the recording, so I figured, okay, this phrase just repeats a bunch. I kept bracing for the chorus to drop, but they just kept looping that same phrase.

So that’s the kind of performance they do.

Wakiki

yabori

So I’m wondering why they’re repeating it so much, and then vocalist Luke Pritchard says something into the mic. I look around at everyone else, and it seems like he’s telling us to “crouch down.” I had no idea what was going on, but everyone was crouching, so I figured I had to crouch too. Once the band confirmed everyone was crouched, the chorus just exploded — boom — and everyone who’d been crouching shot up and surged forward all at once. And I’m just like, “Whoa!” I got pushed so hard that even though I was around the middle, I got shoved all the way toward the front and nearly got crushed to death. 😅

Is crouching down a signature move for this band?

Wakiki

yabori

No idea. That was the first and only time I’ve seen that.

I don’t think I’ve ever been told to “crouch down” at a show.

Wakiki

yabori

Takita, have you ever crouched down because the MC told you to?

Not at Summer Sonic. But it seems pretty common with Japanese rock bands. At RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL, for bands like 10-FEET or HEY-SMITH, things got pretty intense with circle mosh pits and all that, so I remember there being a crouching culture there and actually doing it.

Takita

yabori

Around when was that?

Around that same era, I think — Rising Sun in 2013 or so. My memory’s a bit fuzzy, but yeah, there was definitely some crouching happening.

Takita

So crouching down is basically prep for charging forward — part of that whole flow?

Wakiki

yabori

I guess so. It really does seem like once the chorus hits, everyone surges forward at the same time.

That sounds terrifying (laughs).

Wakiki

yabori

It genuinely felt dangerous. It was rough — I couldn’t believe a band that wasn’t even that intense pulled something like that. 😅

Isn’t moshing pretty much banned these days?

Wakiki

yabori

It is now, but back then it probably wasn’t regulated that much. In the late 2000s, safety guidelines weren’t nearly as strict as they are today.

True. I remember things calming down over the last decade or so, maybe five years, roughly around pre-COVID times.

Takita

yabori

Yeah, this was almost 20 years ago now.

RUSH BALL 2002, My First Summer Festival

Almost 20 years ago — I actually have a story like that too, where I thought, “this is bad.”

Wakiki

yabori

I want to hear it!

Listening to yabori’s story just reminded me — I’m from Hyogo Prefecture, and my very first summer festival was “RUSH BALL” in my first year of junior high, which is held in Kobe.

Wakiki

yabori

Wait, was RUSH BALL in Kobe?

Ah, it seems to be at Izumiotsu Phoenix now. Back then it was at Kobe Port Island. I was completely obsessed with BUMP OF CHICKEN at the time. And tickets weren’t sold online back then — you had to call the phone number printed in a magazine and try to be the fastest at hitting the button to get through. That was just how it worked.

Wakiki

yabori

Calling in for tickets, what a throwback (laughs).

Right? I could never once get through, and even when I did, it wouldn’t go any further, so I couldn’t get tickets to BUMP’s solo show. They weren’t playing venues as big as they do now, either. But I really, really wanted to go. When I heard BUMP was playing this summer festival called RUSH BALL, I bought tickets on my own without asking my parents — two tickets came to about 10,000 yen — and just reported it after the fact. I think they ended up paying me back for it. My dad drove us there and back, and my older brother and I went all the way to Kobe together. That was my first summer festival and my first live show ever. So even though I’d watched live footage before, I had absolutely no idea how dangerous it could get near the front.

Wakiki

Yeah, that’s something you only really understand once you’ve experienced it.

Takita

Right. MONGOL800, who were huge at the time, came on, and I casually thought, “I want to go up and watch from the front,” so I just squeezed into the crowded area without thinking much of it. Then the moment the song started, everyone surged forward all at once, slamming into each other, and I got completely swallowed by the wave. I lost all sense of what was happening — I couldn’t even stand properly. It felt like I was standing on someone’s feet. With people packed in tight on every side, you actually couldn’t fall over, but it was an incredibly unstable feeling, just getting tossed around by the crowd, and it was terrifying. Then the woman right in front of me fainted and collapsed toward me.

Wakiki

yabori

Seriously…

The people around her realized something was wrong and carried her out, but before I knew it, my brother had disappeared too. The performance was still going on, but I desperately fought my way back to a less crowded area, and from then on I was too scared, so I watched the rest of BUMP from way in the back.

Wakiki

yabori

That’s terrifying…

It was so scary. I guess MONGOL800’s crowd was pretty intense too. It was just wild.

Wakiki

yabori

Let me look this up real quick — RUSH BALL was in 2002. MONGOL800, BUMP, and ART-SCHOOL were on the bill. Scoobie Do too, looks like.

Oh, that’s right. Tamio Okuda and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra were on it too, I think.

Wakiki

yabori

So it was 2002. Over 20 years ago now. Festival culture hadn’t really been established yet back then, so wasn’t it even more chaotic?

I actually got to watch the footage from that 2002 show later on WOWOW or something. And during HUSKING BEE’s set, there were people holding hands in a circle and spinning around at an insane speed. I liked the music, but I remember watching it thinking there’s no way I could join that circle.

Wakiki

yabori

Wow. So it really was even more chaotic back then.

Maybe that’s how it stayed right up until around pre-COVID, like you mentioned earlier.

Wakiki

My First Crowd Surf at Rising Sun

Building on yabori’s scary summer festival story, I actually have a couple of scary stories of my own that just came to mind. One was at Rising Sun in 2013 — my first time at a festival, as a college senior. My friend wanted to see 10-FEET, so I was watching from around the middle, but the fans’ energy was intense. I got swept up in a circle pit and mosh pit — packed in tight like I’d never experienced before, it was rough. To escape that pressure and chaos, I decided to crowd surf and get carried to the back where I could watch more calmly. I’d never crowd surfed before, so I didn’t even realize you’re supposed to keep rolling once people lift you up. I figured I’d just get hoisted up and everyone would push me along, but some guy yelled at me, “Roll, you’re in the way, go!” So I thought, oh, that’s how it works, and since I was already exhausted, I figured diving would actually be easier, and just went with it. That was my first festival and my first crowd surf.

Takita

yabori

I can’t picture you crowd surfing at all, Takita. 😅

Summer Sonic 2023: Heatstroke and PALE WAVES

Sorry I’m late! Let me jump in from here.

Maririn

Alright, now that Maririn’s here, let me tell the story about nearly dying at a festival, and my favorite memory too. The near-death one, most recently, was during NewJeans in 2023. I’ve been going to Summer Sonic almost every year since I moved to Tokyo, and it was my first chance to see NewJeans live, so I was out there from the very first act, under blazing sun all day. I wanted to watch from the front, so I was positioned somewhere between the front and the middle. By that point I was already sucking on salt tablets nonstop.

Takita

That was the year they banned bringing in drinks at the Marine Stage, right? Even though it was that hot.

Maririn

That’s right. I remember thinking, this is going to kill someone. It was right after COVID restrictions had lifted, so nobody really had a feel for the heat anymore. And there was a drink restriction even though it was outdoors. I think it’s because the venue is the ZOZO Marine Stadium field, and sports drinks could damage the grass, so they weren’t allowed in. Water would’ve been fine, apparently. So I was watching like I might actually die. When they finally came out, I pushed my way forward at first and managed to get a pretty good spot up front, but after the first half, when the members left the stage and came back, I started feeling so dizzy I could barely stand. I was on the verge of heatstroke. It was such a shame since I’d worked my way up front, but I realized this was dangerous and moved back. Moving back was the right call, but I barely remember anything after that. I just gritted my teeth and kept thinking, hurry up and end already — even though I’d wanted to see it so badly, I just wanted it to be over.

Takita

yabori

(laughs).

It got to the point where ambulances were carrying people out one after another. I somehow managed to hold on, and PALE WAVES was up next. I really wanted to see them too, so I told myself I had to push through. Once the crowd thinned out a bit and there was some space, a breeze picked up, and that’s what actually revived me. But by then entry restrictions had kicked in, so even though PALE WAVES had come all the way to Japan to perform, there was barely anyone there. On the main stage, no less — I thought, at this rate PALE WAVES is never going to want to come back to Japan, so I tried to hype things up on my own, throwing in some bigger reactions.

Takita

Working hard out there (laughs).

Wakiki

But after about ten or twenty minutes, the entry restrictions lifted, and as the NewJeans fans cleared out, people started trickling in bit by bit. PALE WAVES got the crowd going, and the show came together and succeeded — and with that whole arc of heatstroke leading into PALE WAVES turning into something so uplifting, I actually teared up a little.

Takita

Overcoming so much to get there (laughs).

Maririn

Yeah, I was so relieved, thinking, good, they’ll come back to Japan again — that’s one story. The other one that’s stuck with me the most is the ghost stories that used to be a signature part of RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL, told by Junji Inagawa. They don’t do it anymore, but apparently it was still happening as recently as 2017. I saw it at my very first Rising Sun in 2013. Quite a crowd had gathered, and Junji Inagawa came out in a kimono and started telling his ghost stories. Everyone was like, “It’s Junji Inagawa, let’s hear something scary,” but since it was outdoors, the sound quality was terrible and you couldn’t make out what he was saying at all — that was the worst part.

Takita

So it was outdoors?

Maririn

Yeah, outdoors. People kept drifting away partway through, and honestly that was the scariest part — watching the crowd steadily shrink. It was scary, so scary…

Takita

yabori

That’s a great punchline (laughs).

An Unbelievable Experience at FUJI ROCK

There’s one memory I really want to share — I went to FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL ’17.

Wakiki

Who headlined Fuji Rock 2017 again?

Maririn

The day I went, it was GORILLAZ. And right before Gorillaz was The xx. None of my friends were really into going to summer festivals, but one really close friend told me, “If you want to go, I’ll come with you, so let’s go.”

Wakiki

What a kind friend.

Maririn

Right, so the two of us went all the way to Niigata and somehow made it to the venue. Fuji Rock’s known for rain, isn’t it. The xx and Gorillaz were both near the end of the lineup, so by the time they came on, I was already pretty worn out. I’d come in fired up, wanting to see them, and gradually pushed my way toward the front, hoping to catch both acts from the very front row, but partway through, my legs hurt, I needed the bathroom, my throat was parched…

Wakiki

yabori

Classic festival struggle (laughs).

Right. If you leave your spot even once, you have to rejoin from the very back, and then there’s no way you’re seeing your favorite act from the front row. I’d made it about halfway, but I nearly gave up. And even though I was the one who’d wanted to go in the first place, and I was the one about to give up, my friend who’d come along with me said, “Don’t give up! Let’s push forward!” That really encouraged me. Even though she didn’t know a single The xx or Gorillaz song. In the end, we made it all the way to the front row before The xx started. Once you push through enough, you actually forget about your thirst and needing the bathroom — so I ended up watching The xx like that and thoroughly enjoying Gorillaz. At one point, Gorillaz’s vocalist Damon Albarn came down into the crowd.

Wakiki

Really?

Maririn

Yeah. The first time, he went in the opposite direction from where we were standing, so we were like, “whoa, he came down!” but couldn’t actually see him. But later on — I think it was during “Clint Eastwood” — he came down again, and this time he was heading in our direction. He was reaching his hand out to fans, moving sideways little by little, and when he got to where we were, I reached out too and actually touched Damon’s hand. Then Damon suddenly looked right at me and pointed the mic at me.

Wakiki

yabori

No way!?

But I had no idea what you’re supposed to say in that moment, and I just froze up. Damon was grinning at me, mic held out, and I couldn’t say anything at all. It was probably during the outro of the song, so I couldn’t exactly sing along either, and while I was thinking, what does everyone even shout in this situation, nothing came to mind, and I just turned to stone. Then Damon pointed the mic at my friend standing next to me instead, and she screamed, “Kyaa!” (laughs). That seemed to satisfy him, and he moved on. Looking back, I still wonder if that really happened — and it gives me chills even now thinking that if I’d shouted something awkward in that moment, it would have gone out live over a Fuji Rock headliner’s mic.

Wakiki

yabori

Isn’t that the kind of moment that ends up as a big close-up in the highlight reel? Those scenes get shown a lot in broadcasts.

I’m too scared to watch myself frozen like that, so I haven’t checked. My friend next to me reacted a lot more, so maybe she’s the one who got caught on camera.

Wakiki

yabori

What an incredibly rare experience.

Right? So I’ve bragged about it to all kinds of people. Whenever I meet someone who’s into Blur or Gorillaz, I’m like, “You know, Damon once pointed a mic at me” (laughs).

Wakiki

yabori

That’s a story worth bragging about!

Editor’s Note

So, how was it?

From nearly dying in the crush of the crowd at Summer Sonic to Junji Inagawa’s ghost stories, the range of stories that came out was even more varied than we expected, and we on the editorial team were surprised at every turn just listening in.

In particular, Wakiki, joining us for the first time, vividly recounted the baptism-by-fire of her first summer festival back in junior high. And Takita showed real tenacity, sticking it out at the venue all the way to the end even while on the verge of heatstroke.

We think it turned into a moment that offered a glimpse into how each person relates to music in their own way.

Part two of our summer festival edition will kick off with Maririn’s story!